Toy food products and toy food preparation products have become extremely popular with younger children due to children's inherent enjoyment of mimicking adult activities which surround them. Children seem to enjoy preparing various types of simple foods and find particular enjoyment in those foods which are cooked or baked. A substantial number of safety concerns arise in connection with children's use of devices which heat or cook food and food products. The most obvious of which is the concern that children are able to utilize such products in a manner in which the risk of burn injury to the child user is created.
Faced with the continuing popularity of food preparation-type toys, practitioners in the art have endeavored to provide a variety of such toy products such as toy ovens or the like.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,243 issued to Zeiss sets forth a CHILDREN'S TOY OVEN WITH ACCESS TOY SAFETY LATCH in which a child's toy oven comprises a housing having a baking chamber defined therein. An access opening is provided in the wall of the housing for communicating with the baking chamber. A slidable access door provides opening and closing of the access opening. A multiply articulated latch system is operative to preclude the insertion of unwanted foreign objects into the baking chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,808,730 issued to Cooper, et al. sets forth a TOY OVEN having an oven housing and a telescopic food mold supported therein. A compressible food product is received within the oven and is reconfigured by the telescopic mold during a simulated baking process to impart a baked outer appearance to the food product during a simulation of baking.
U.S. Pat. No. 282,942 issued to Hartelius sets forth a TOY OVEN having a generally rectangular housing defining an upper cook top surface and an interior cavity. An elongated rectangular slot is formed in the oven housing and a front knob is operative upon the oven door.
U.S. Pat. No. 260,274 issued to Appel, et al. sets forth a TOY OVEN having a generally rectangular housing defining a horizontal cook top having simulated burners supported thereon. The cook top further includes a vertical rear portion having a window aperture defined therein within which a rotatable drum is located. The toy oven further defines a rectangular housing within which an interior cavity simulating an oven is defined.
U.S. Pat. No. 255,412 issued to Bereza sets forth a PIE CRUST MAKER OR SIMILAR ARTICLE having a horizontal base supporting an upwardly extending frustro-conical mold member. A vertically extending support member is positioned on either side of the base and supports a vertically movable frustro-conical mold member corresponding to the base supported member. A multiple linkage arrangement couples a pivotal arm to the movable mold member to provide compression therebetween and form a frustro-conical pie crust shell between the mold members.
U.S. Pat. No. 226,960 issued to Pasquale sets forth a FOOD MOLD having a pressing member formed of a cylindrical handle having a circular press die at one end thereof and a rectangular press die at the opposite end thereof. A pair of thin walled mold members compatible with the circular and square die members are used in combination therewith.
U.S. Pat. No. 268,318 issued to Lutzker sets forth a CANAPE MAKER OR THE LIKE in which an elongated hollow housing supports a movable plunger therein and defines an exterior shape corresponding to a to-be-formed canape type food item.
While the foregoing described prior art devices have enjoyed some measure of success, there remains nonetheless a continuing need in the art for evermore improved interesting and safe toy ovens and toy food processing products.